Work from home businesses - Any luck?

PennyPincher · #1 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 07:29 AM

I'm currently pursuing the possibility of becoming an "independent business consultant" with one of the work from home companies that thrive on the face-to-face sales opportunity.

Can you share any experiences, good and bad, about any of them? I'm talking about Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Longaberger baskets, etc...

I tried Mary Kay years ago, and was easily discouraged by the need to keep product on hand and the need to order more than $400 worth at a time to earn the consultant discount.

I'm looking for something extra right now...and I've done sales, so I think I might be okay. Even an extra $500/YEAR would be nice ~ I don't have huge expectations. But there are certainly huge tax advantages to having a business.

Any advice?

gakline · #2 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 07:49 AM

Take a look at this thread: Here

I know we talked about some of the stuff.

BlingBling · #3 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 08:24 AM

I wanted to try something too, so I decided that it should be a consumable product, reasonably priced and something most everybody enjoys. Affordable start up cost and a website maintained by someone else.

More importantly something I would enjoy! Thats how I picked the company I went with and so far I am very happy.

I've had to learn, I've had to get out of my comfort zone alittle at a time but I am doing it. You are right about the tax advantages I've worked at home for 5 years now and its a huge help.

My best advice have a passion for your product. Good luck!

PennyPincher · #4 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 08:41 AM

Bling...what did you go with that has worked so well for you? (I agree that consumable products are best ~ the same clients consistently need more...)

BlingBling · #5 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 09:46 AM

Penny, I went with candles, all soy and natural. They burn soot free and such an easy gift to give for under 10.00 with excellent quality. 115 scents and some wonderful quirky names.

I love to laugh and feel good. We have scents such as Jungle Love and Monkey Farts! I get tickled over that all the time.

If you would like more info feel free to email me or just check out the site in my sig - there's alot more info there.

Again go with something you love...If Thomas Kincade had a program I would be first in line!

txjman · #6 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 11:24 AM

My wife sells Arbonne. Her products are color, nutrition, and aromatherpy. She is enjoying. If you want more information let me know.

jacquelynrose · #7 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 11:32 AM

I offer Discount Health Care Services to people who cannot get insurance or who are underinsured. You can go ahead and view my signature for more information or email me.

Jacquelyn

rjn · #8 (**permalink**) 03-31-2005, 04:51 PM

My wife is a free lance writer, but also prints addresses on envelopes for special occasions. All you need is a good printer and knowledge of Excel and Word.

PrincessPerky · #9 (**permalink**) 04-01-2005, 04:33 AM

On the specifics of Mary Kay, everyone I know has their own consultant already (I am allergic, but a friend of mine started selling so I did the neighborly thing and asked around) Pampered chef some areas is very rare, others is very big. There is another makeup company JAFRA that itsn't to big around here, Tupperware most people I know like at least some of the stuff, but again most have there own consultant.

I am rather anti MLM, I do feel that consumable products are a help, but there is still the fact that some company making millions is charging me to sell there stuff. Not to mention the constant recruit your friends atmosphere, and the buy this new training thing. I know that in m Toys there are wonderfully dedicated people who make 6 figures in a year, but they also are workaholics (70,90 or more hours a week), of which I am not! MLM seems to only pay well by the hour if you put in A lot of hours. Part timers are lucky to break even.

I dunno the point of a MLM seems to be earning money from the conveniene of your home, but most MLMers take the product to the customer.

And the other point seems to be work less, which is silly, with the advertising, the customer care, and if your into the recruiting the 'downline time' and the 'upline time' you really spend a lot more hours working than those few minutes of the sales.

Having said all that if you like kids and like toys I have a wonderful company with great fun educational products I would love to tell you about how you can start your buisness with just a low low start up fee

.

singinjeannie · #10 (**permalink**) 04-01-2005, 09:10 AM

My DH and I have done EcoQuest with some success. We don't have a lot of time, so we don't make as much as we could. We wholely believe in the products (who can't believe in better health and helping people have a better quality of life?) but you definitely need to have time to dedicate to it.

I also know lots of people making 6 figures selling this stuff, but they are doing it full-time or more than full-time. My DH and I bring home about $500 a month from this.

I also hate the idea of MLM. This is a hybrid of MLM, meaning you don't have to have a downline to earn money. We have NO downline and have recruited NO ONE, we just sell the product.

Good luck!

crosses · #11 (**permalink**) 04-03-2005, 10:50 AM

I have a friend that does really well scrapbooking for other people. I guess most people just don't have the time or just don't want to do it themselves, but love having them to look at. She also arranges photo albums for people. I believe she charges $15 an hour for labor and also sells a lot of the scrapbooks and photo albums and makes money on them too. A great job if it's something you already like to do.

byusteeler · #12 (**permalink**) 04-04-2005, 11:21 AM

I sold homemade gourmet. it was a consumable product and did quite well with the working crowd. I think it is pricey and I had trouble selling to the frugal crowd but as I said the working women loved it. My husbands co-workers were very disappointed when I quit selling it. I have sold Mary Kay, Tupperware, and Pampered Chef I made a little money on all of them. I sold them to get my own stuff paid for or at large discounts. I have all the pampered chef and tupperware that I need and it didn't cost any money out of my budget. I may sign up for mary kay again just so I can get the product 1/2 price. I like the product but can not afford it plus I think it is overpriced at full price. I really like Arbonne too but it is expensive too. There is a website that shows a bunch of the direct marketing companies, tells a little about them and gives the start up costs. try www.homepartyplannetwork.com and www.thewahmconnection.com They aren't the one I was thinking of but they do list some.

BlingBling · #13 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 06:08 PM

I really like Mary Kaye. Our area here is saturated its so popular. I've learned thats something else to consider. Still, going with something you love and are excited about, just makes it so easy to get others interested, the quality of the product does the rest.

zendus · #14 (**permalink**) 06-03-2005, 06:21 PM

Just ran across this posting. It certainly generated a good discussion. Was curious if PennyPincher had decided upon anything?

catlover15 · #15 (**permalink**) 10-01-2005, 08:28 PM

Candles are great to sell.

singinjeannie · #16 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 07:36 AM

One thing people need to realize is that it takes a certain personality to "SELL" stuff. If you don't have that type of personality, you are not successful with home-based businesses that require you to recruit people or sell services / items.

Far too many people, me included, get sucked into the MLM deal when they are not good sales people, and all they have to show for their efforts is lost time and more lost money that they couldn't afford to lose in the first place (that's why they were looking for a way to make money!)

I wish I could offer my services of secretarial skills from home and get paid for them. It's really hard to break into this type of service business, though, because thousands just like me want to do the same thing.

Snoopy2645 · #17 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 09:41 AM

Well as for selling stuff I am not really the selling type. But I have a cousin who did wonderful selling candles. As for myself I am starting a wah job but it will be like a CS rep for a company I am really looking forward to it but if that dont work out which I am really really hoping it does.

I will start a preschool out of my home. I would love to do that too. SO hopefully one or the other works out maybe at some point I will do both if the CS job does work out, but I am done working outside the home until the kids are older. But at the same time I need to be doing something & have my own goals & bringing in money to help the family.

jmjj215 · #18 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 08:47 AM

The key with MLM is to be ready to work your tail off for quite a while before it begins paying off. I have a friend that started w/ a phone-service, long-distance, ISP, type MLM company and he's now "locked in" they say. Meaning he's recruited so many people working under him that he makes well into six figures a year. He's 25. He owns a home, some land, four investment properties, a benz, and a gas-guzzling Escalade.

Well, I say "owns" but I don't know how much of that he financed

He works 70 hours per week.

zendus · #19 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 01:10 PM

I absolutely agree with singinjeannie that a person needs to have a type of personality to be successful at selling and I am not one of those type of personality either. However, I had a rather good experience selling Avon. Avon sells itself, most everybody is familiar with it and most have favorite avon products. I sold avon while I was working full time among my coworkers. All I had to do was put avon books in their office mailbox and the sales just trickled in, I had to do no selling at all. When their products arrived I would slip a note in their box with the total and when they were ready to pay they would visit my cubicle. At my cubicle I would have demo's there for them to look, which I would write off on my taxes and then later I would have many items to giveaway for gifts. It really worked out very well. I never really made any real money, but I saved a ton of money not buying gifts (I would pick out demos with a gift receipant in mind) and I also saved a ton of money on my taxes. I took the home office deduction and deducted a second phone line which I used for an interenet connection (before DSL was an option). I could go on and on about the many ways that Avon was a great second job, I won't bore you that way.

The only other thing that sticks out in my mind that is another reason that makes Avon a great business, is that it only cost $20.00 to join.(at least when I joined many moons ago) You did not have to buy a $300 dollar starter kit like some home based business require. There were no minimum sale requirements either. Again, there is ever so much more to say, but mainly in my opinion, Avon is an excellent home based business.

mom-from-missouri · #20 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 02:47 PM

I would not be comfortable selling. #1, I am not a sales person. #2, I don't buy any of those things because, I am too frugal. How could I sell something I personally don't buy because I can either live without it, or get it for a fraction of the price elsewhere? Makeup, candles, all that stuff I can get cheaper and the family dollar store for a fraction of the cost, or I can live without it. Plus, I would be so afraid that people would quit buying it from me when they started feeling the "pinch" from the economy. Selling insurance from home makes more sense to me, because that is designed to save people money, and it is something most people don't want to be without.